The Northern Lights
by shadowsnowleopard
Summary: The descendants of the heroes of Olympus are taking after their parents. They train. They play practical jokes. They think everything is easy going and nothing bad will happen. They think they're indestructible. That is until the Oracle sends them on a quest and they find out what the real world is like. Rated T for occasional swearing.
1. Who's Who

**Hi peeps. As much as I want to blabber on in my author's note, I have a feeling that not many of you are gonna read it anyway. So read on fellow fanfictioners. And yes. I know that's not a word.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO but the other people you don't recognize are my OCs and the plot is my own. This goes for the rest of the story as well.**

 **Alex POV**

Running. I was running through the woods as fast as I could. Crouching behind a boulder, I tried unsuccessfully to quiet my breathing. He was coming. Sweat dripped down my neck. I could hear his stomping through the leaves. He was right on the other side. I tried to shrink into the surface of the cold, hard rock. His shadow shifted and he began to slowly walk in the other direction. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until I exhaled, relieved he hadn't found me.

I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you who I am.

My name is Alexandria Jackson. I was named after the Library of Alexandria, despite the fact that I'm Greek, not Roman. I'm a legacy of Poseidon and Athena. My parents were apart of the Prophecy of Seven and they've saved the world multiple times. Me on the other hand, I'm still waiting for my chance.

"Gotcha!" was the last thing I heard before I was knocked over by a jumping body from the other side of the boulder.

I rolled over dismayed. But then a brilliant idea popped into my head. I cried out in pain, wrapping my hands on my knee.

"Oh my gods! I'm so sorry! Let me find some Nectar!" my best friend Elliot Grace exclaimed.

My grimace became what Elliot calls my 'evil plot' face as he turned around to look through his backpack. And then I pounced.

Elliot struggled but I had him pinned in less than a minute.

"Can't… Breath…" he gasped and I removed my forearm from his throat.

I stood up offering him my hand and he took it, standing beside me.

Finally I couldn't hold it in any longer. I started laughing so much I almost fell over. Luckily, I wasn't the only one. Elliot had fallen into his own laughing fit.

"You should've seen your face when I jumped you!" he managed to say between laughs.

"You should've seen you face when I jumped _you_. You were beginning to turn blue," I replied. "You also seemed quite worried when tricked you into thinking I was hurt."

"Of course I was worried."

I jerked my head up to look at him, blushing, but he didn't notice the initial meaning his words had on me. He looked at me without realization and continued.

"I was worried that if I brought you back to your dad damaged he'd give me a one way ticket to visit Hades."

It was quite funny. I began giggling again.

"Hey, no laughing. This is a very serious subject," Elliot said, but then he started laughing too, "Okay, I couldn't say that with a straight face."

"How did you find me anyway? I was gone before you could say start," I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"My parents say I have hunting skills like a bloodhound."

"You have the odor of one too," I told him, grinning all the while.

Elliot sounded so proud of himself that I had to take it upon myself to take his ego down a notch. Of course instead it resulted in a playful punch from him.

"Wow. Aren't you just the nicest person in the world," Elliot joked.

"Why thank you for noticing," I responded as we began walking back to the cabins.

"I found you. That's all that matters. What is it now? 67 to 3?"

"Someday mister. Someday I will beat you so hard you're gonna go running with your imaginary bloodhound tail between your legs."

"When pigs fly."

"Newsflash: pigs do fly. My dad fought one in the Battle of Manhattan. Also, you may track well, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat your Aphrodite side really shows."

"Oh that was really low."

As usual though, he took nothing I said to heart when it was cruel, which I was glad for since I didn't really mean any of it. Despite the rumors in the Aphrodite Cabin and Mabelle's little squeal she released every time she saw us together, Elliot and I weren't dating. We've been best friends since we were two, and personally, I didn't want to screw that up.

By that point, we had reached the fire pit in the center of the cabin area. A little girl in a brown dress that I'd never seen before was tending the flames.

"Luckily though," Elliot continued, "terrible hand-to-hand combat and charmspeak are the only things I got from my grandmother and mom."

"And the hair," I added.

"Yep, and the hair," He agreed, "Versus Mabelle. She got the relationship thing."

"I think that's only part Aphrodite."

"What's the other part then?"

"Girl."

"But you're a girl."

"And Mabelle's a girly girl. Complete difference. You're her brother. Have you seen how much makeup she puts on in the morning?"

"Point taken. I think it weighs more than my armor."

"Come on, it's just about dinner time."

We ran all the way to dining pavilion just as the horn blew in the distance. I dragged Elliot over to one of the legacies table where some of our friends were already gathered and piling food onto their plates.

"Have you ever tried chocolate covered ghost peppers?" Samuel Valdez inquired Theodore Zhang, picking one up off his plate.

"Ew!" squealed Bianca di Angelo-Solace, "I swear Sammy, sometimes I don't know _what_ goes through your head."

"So Theo… You want one?" Sammy asked once more, still wiggling his eyebrows and holding one out to Theo.

"Honestly?" Theo turned to him with a slightly green color on his face. "I don't want to even think trying one."

Bianca jumped up and hugged me when we arrived, knocking her soda all over Sammy.

"Seriously?" Sammy shouted, grabbing a fistful of napkins while Theo, sitting directly across from him, smiled and shook as he tried to keep from laughing.

Bianca put her hands on my shoulders.

"Do you have a muzzle I can borrow? Or possibly some duct tape?" she asked, her expression completely serious.

I shrugged.

"Does a sword count?" I responded playfully while Sammy looked up in horror, still dabbing orange flavored carbonation off his shirt.

"You could always stick a sock in his mouth," Theo suggested. **(A/N Yes that was in reference to BoO where Frank stuffed his sock in Nike's mouth)**

Sammy continued to glare at Bianca and me as we walked up to the braziers and scraped portions of our meal into the fires. I walked up behind Elliot, pushing a buttery roll into the flames and inhaling the scent. The first time I had done that I had almost gagged, expecting the smell that went along with most fires. As I did it now though, the aroma of fresh chocolate chip cookies, the same ones from the cornucopias in New Rome on the Feast of Fortuna, wafted through the air.

By the time I sat back down at the table, Sammy seemed to have got over the orange soda incident and was inhaling his food. He didn't even seem to care about big orange stain on his shirt.

I was sitting in between Elliot and Theo when Chiron tried to quiet us down after dessert.

"Campers," Chiron called out, "As you all know, tonight there is another game of capture the flag!"

A loud cheer rang throughout the tables. The plates disappeared from the tables, replaced by armor and weapons. We all strapped up our armor as the teams were called out.

The blue team: Athena, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Apollo, Iris, and Hypnos.

And the red team: Ares, Zeus, Hades, Demeter, Hecate, Dionysus, and the rest of the uncalled cabins.

I strapped my blue horse plume helmet on, as did Sammy, while Elliot, Theo, and Bianca put on red horse plume helmets.

We all had our teams depending on the cabin we were staying in. Either way I would be on the blue team, but I stay in the Poseidon cabin because my powers lean more towards my father's family. Sammy stays in the Hephaestus cabin since his mother is the daughter of a titan, and therefore doesn't have a cabin. Elliot lives in the Zeus cabin, because even though he has charmspeak, he claims the perfume would eventually poison him. Theo is in the Hades cabin even though he's so much like his father. Theo is tall, almost a half foot taller than Elliot, and he's like a giant teddy bear, which is why Bianca and I call him Teddy sometimes. He's just too soft for the Ares cabin, so instead he chose the Hades cabin. Finally, Bianca stays in the Hecate cabin. She rarely talks about her parents, but we do know that her father was a son of Hecate and her mother was a daughter of Fauna, the Roman goddess of fruitfulness with ties to forests and fields, including wild animals. She chose the Hecate cabin though because of an irrational fear of the Maia cabin, which is the Greek version of Fauna.

Sammy and I jogged up next to the head of the Athena cabin, Casey, as she explained her plan for capture the flag while we walked to our side of the forest.

"So," she continued, "James will take the decoy team around the west side. I'll take the main attack team, just a small group. Jessie will cover defense with half the Hephaestus cabin and the Hypnos cabin. Lay traps at a 20 ft radius around the flag and put the enemy team to sleep. Apollo cabin, fan out at the river and shoot at anyone trying to cross either way. Blunt arrows of course, but try to disarm them and capture them. Also, see if you can spot the other team's flag from the tree tops."

"And Sammy and me? You know what happened last time you put me on border patrol," I asked her, hopping over a tree root as we made our way through the forest.

"You guys are with me. I need back up. Plus chances are they put Demeter and Dionysus and defense. That means a ton of plants. Sam, I'm gonna need you to burn a path," Casey told us.

In the distance the conch shell blew.

Game on.

 **So that was the first chapter. How was it? Criticism is accepted and if it's helpful towards making me a better writer/fanfictioner, then it's welcomed. Next chapter within a week. Probably. Hopefully. The more happy responses I get to it, the faster I'll write.**

 **Follow, favorite, and review.**

 **I found a great quote by the way. I'm not sure what it's from but apply this to the timing of my updates.**

" **Expect nothing and you will never be disappointed."**

 **Anyone know what that's from?**

 **If you send me quotes through reviews or PM I'll try to include them in my next chapter, either in the story or the author's notes.**


	2. The Winning Plan

**Hello again. Nice to see you. Love the new haircut. Okay, now with the pleasantries out of the way, here's the next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO**

 **Sammy POV**

James and his group could be heard running through the other side of the forest.

"Come on," Casey whispered to our small group.

We began sneaking our way over the river and through the woods.

"To grandmother's house we go," I mumbled.

Alex gave me a little smile, but Casey just scowled and waved us forward.

I looked back at the other four people with us.

Tyler, from the Hermes cabin. Useful since we were sneaking around. Also the guy to go to if you ever needed snack foods from the mortal world. Just don't trust him around pie. Bianca learned that the hard way.

Mystique, or as everyone called her, Misty, from the Poseidon cabin. She's Alex's… I don't even know. Half aunt? She's a daughter of Poseidon. Terrible at baking, but in a sword fight- you'd better hope she's on your side.

Summer from the Apollo cabin, though most people call her Sum since she's a math whiz. Ironic for a demigod. She has a terrible habit of blinding people since her dad is the sun god, but is also one of the best archers at camp, so she'd be useful in getting the flag. She's also been helping me with an array of arrow prototypes, like ones that fly faster or have little sparklers at the end.

Finally, Mabelle, Elliot's younger sister who stays in the Aphrodite cabin was walking right behind me. Despite all the makeup she puts on in the morning, she's quite good with lances and spears. Also, while Belle doesn't have charmspeak, she can fly and control storms along with lightning. As a ten year old, she's technically not allowed to fly yet (via orders of her dad), but she does walk around shocking people all the time. Even now I can feel the hair on my arms stand up from the close range static.

The contrast between Belle and Alex, who was walking in front of me, was huge. Belle had perfect lipgloss and mascara beneath her helmet, while the closest Alex ever got to makeup was the tube of black lipstick she kept next to her armor back in the Poseidon cabin and used to draw war paint. She glanced back and gave a little smirk, the two dark streaks on her cheeks moving up. _Gods of Olympus_ , I thought, _even without makeup, she looks so beau- no. Shut it Valdez. What are you thinking. She's one of your best friends. Don't think about her perfectly tanned skin or her curly jet-black hair. Not to mention the stormy sea green eyes- shut up Valdez._

We trudged over the boundary line (a.k.a. the river) in into enemy territory. Alex reached out a hand and two globes of water, each the size of a beach ball, and had them floating alongside her on the way to find the other teams flag.

"You can never be too careful," she whispered.

Finally we made it to a large clearing, where about half a dozen guards milled around. I recognized three or four of them as children of Demeter. The open space was filled with thorny bushes and poison ivy. These wouldn't bother the Demeter kids, but the others were steering clear of it. I recognized one as a daughter of Hebe and another as a daughter of Dionysus.

Meanwhile, we hid behind a clump of _non poisonous_ bushes

"Sum," Casey whispered, "what arrows do you have?"

"Blunt, hydra, fart, an explosion or two-" she kept rattling off different types of arrows, including one I'd invented called the caterpillar. Personally I'd wanted to call them Sammy Arrows, but the Apollo cabin refused to use them if they were named that.

"Okay," Casey interrupted Summer, "Any knock out arrows?"

"One, but it only works in a five foot radius. It wouldn't hit everyone."

If Casey were a machine, then I bet I'd be able to open her head and see all the gears turning, but sadly enough all that was in there was a mushy blob. Disgusting and prone to failure. Very hard to fix too.

Why do humans have to be so complicated? Or any living thing for that matter? What had dad called them? Organic something-or-other?

"Tyler," Casey whispered, "What do you have?"

An evil grin crossed Tyler's face.

"You mean, what _don't_ I have," he murmured back.

Casey rolled her eyes and huffed a sigh. Her patience was slowly waning.

"What do you have to draw them all to the same area?" Casey said, gritting her teeth.

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Tyler mumbled, "That covers everything from a screamer puck to fizzle balls."

Casey's eyes narrowed, and similar to Aunt Annabeth, the look she shot at Tyler made him creep away.

"Fine. Fine. I get the idea," Tyler muttered. "I've got the perfect thing. Tessa from the Hecate cabin helped me create it."

That's when he proceeded to take a small stone cat from his pocket and sneak around to the other edge of the clearing.

"He's gonna mess that up somehow," Casey stated. "Misty, cover his ass."

Misty grumbled incoherently but ran after Tyler nonetheless. We waited, and finally a hand reached through a bush on the other side of the clearing and placed the tiny stone cat on the ground. Some spell must have been used, because the stone cat grew in size and became a real life tabby.

Alex drew in a breath.

"It's so adorable!" she squealed.

Belle made a sound that resembled a dying squeak toy, and even Casey managed a smile.

By sheer chance, all of the guards happened to be girls, and even though they probably knew it was a trap, they couldn't help but crowd around the little tabby, cooing over how cute and how fluffy it was. I didn't see it.

I mean sure it was sorta cute, but cute enough to abandon your capture the flag post? I don't think so.

"Sum, now," Casey queued.

A sparkly purple arrow trailed through the air, burying itself into the ground between the cat's feet. A purple cloud exploded in a perfect dome with a five foot radius. Three girls went down immediately, but the others managed to hold their breath and back away. The purple dome faded and one of the girls held a hunting whistle to her lips, ready to call in reinforcements. We were too far away to help and Misty and Tyler were caught in a battle with the other two guards.

Before I could think to throw something- anything- and stop the whistle, Sum shot another arrow. I recognized the the streamers at the end and knew it was one of mine. After all, I did spend two months designing it. One of my caterpillar arrows hit the whistleblower smack in the chest and immediately, silk string started wrapping itself around her torso, leaving the whistle out of range of her lips.

Misty was tying the hands of the other two girls who were lying on the ground after battling her and then went into an animated lecture with Tyler about how to correctly disarm an opponent.

Meanwhile, thorns and ivy still lay between us and the flag. I inhaled, ready to set it ablaze, but a smell stopped me.

"Now would-" Casey started, but her voice kinda blurred away.

That smell came from Alex. I knew it couldn't be perfume, but new shampoo maybe? The intoxicating smell of lemon.

I could see Alex's mouth moving but no sounds registered in my brain. A slap jarred me back to reality. I realized it was Alex.

"Sammy!" she practically yelled. "Burn the dam plants! Now!"

"I'm going! I'm going!" I said, scrambling to the closest patch of flammable leaves and lighting my hand up like a torch.

The red heat danced in front of my eyes, not bothering me a bit, but Casey, Sum, and Alex scooched back a bit.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Just do it!" the girls snapped.

"Yeesh," I mumbled. "No need to be so temperamental."

A tiny flame shot from my hand, and soon a direct path to the pile of rocks the flag was on formed. But then the flames kept spreading, until the entire clearing was blazing.

"Uh oh…" I remarked.

I had no idea how to stop it. The flames were getting remarkable close to the dryads' trees. Alex huffed a sigh.

"That's why I came prepared," Alex said under her breath.

Up until that point I had completely forgotten about water beach balls, which still floated in midair.

Twisting her hands, Alex flattened the water into sheets and slowly smothered the flames. Steam billowed up. Ashes filled the recently extinguished area and Casey went to go stop Misty, who was demonstrating the recently taught disarming techniques on an unwilling subject known as Tyler. Sum left to check and make sure reinforcements hadn't come yet. Surely they had seen the smoke and would be rushing in soon enough.

Alex glanced at the flag, then at me, then back at the flag.

"Dibs!" she yelled, running straight for it and jumping up on the rock pile.

"Aw, come on!" I shouted. "That's completely unfair!"

"You want it? Come and get it," Alex taunted, waving the enemy flag in air before jumping off the rocks and rolling up into a standing position.

She took off into the woods before I could say another word. I had no choice but to follow.

Alex tore through the branches, and I watched for incoming enemies.

"Slow down!" I shouted, desperately trying to keep up.

"Not gonna happen!" Alex yelled back.

She was almost there, the river lay just ahead, but on the other side there was a flash of gray.

Someone with our flag was running towards the border too. And that someone happened to be Elliot.

 **And that's chapter two. Any suggestions on couples? Or any suggestions on the story at all?**

 **Follow, favorite, and review.**

" **Books are uniquely portable magic"**

 **-Stephen King**


	3. The Other Plan

**Hello readers. Watcha doin. Well obviously you're reading fanfiction. That's besides the point. Here's chapter three!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO**

 **Elliot POV**

The Ares cabin rarely has good plans when it comes to capture the flag. Their whole cabin ran off to find the flag as soon as the game started and told the rest of the team to do as we like. Luckily Alistair, son of Hades, stood up as a leader. His plans weren't quite as good as the Athena cabin, but they weren't particularly bad.

Theo and Bianca were by my side as Alistair explained his plan. Some Demeter kids along with a few others would stay and guard the flag by growing plants around it and a few others would stay behind to cover them. Alistair would lead the main charging group while small groups of people would look for weakness in their defenses to get to the flag.

"Pick your own groups," Alistair said, "Three to five people at the most. Nobody goes solo."

Everyone started jostling around, trying to find their friends or the best fighters. A few people came up to me, but I turned them away because I was already with Theo and Liam, son of Morpheus. Bianca was staying on border patrol since she wasn't much of a combat fighter.

Soon enough, the game started and we were off through the woods. Branches smacked against us and we almost tripped over countless roots. We made it to the edge of the river and crouched behind some bushes for surveillance. A few pieces of blue were visible through leaves on the other side. Border patrol.

From what I could see, it was only a couple of children of Aphrodite. My sister wasn't among them, which I guess was good; I had no intention of getting fried today. Since my mom had come to camp, the Aphrodite cabin had gotten a lot tougher. Especially since Despicable Me 2 came out all those years ago. Now it is a tradition for the girls in the Aphrodite cabin to have lipstick tasers. Not only for personal defense, but to keep other girls away from your makeup stash since they wouldn't want frizzy hair.

We quickly disarmed them though, and moved on.

In the distance, a large clearing was visible, with a gray flag flying at the top of a large pine tree. A large ring of various metal contraptions circled the open area. Obviously the work of the Hephaestus cabin. I scouted their defenses.

The blue team was relying mostly on the traps and what I'm guessing was a few children of Hypnos since they had fallen asleep at the base of the pine tree.

"Stay here," I told Theo and Liam, "and cover my ass."

"What?" Liam asked. "You're going through that maze alone?"

"Liam, try to send soothing dreams to the Hypnos kids and keep them occupied. Theo, make sure I'm clear," I asked them.

Just as I looked back at the clearing, about 20 yards away, a plume of Greek fire shot up and I saw part of the Ares cabin trying to discreetly get past the Hephaestus traps.

They had blown our cover.

The Hynos kids immediately woke, running to see what had gone wrong.

I was about to take off and see if I could still get the flag.

"Wait," Theo said, "You're still going out there?"

"This is our best shot," I told him, "Like I said before, cover me."

Theo nodded and I turned back towards the clearing where a battle was ensuing between some of the blue defense and red offense.

That's when I jumped. I know. Yay. He jumped. What's that going to do. Well, the thing is, I didn't come down. As soon as I jumped, I was soaring through the air with the wind pressing against my face and my choppy brown hair whipping around.

I headed straight for the flag on top of the lone pine tree in the middle of the flower filled meadow. Grabbing onto a sturdy looking branch, I took the silky gray banner in hand and gazed down below at the full out battle.

Reinforcements had arrived for both sides, so what was at first a little spat, had turned into almost half the camp battling each other.

Theo and Liam had wisely stayed hidden and were waiting for me as I touched down. There was a problem though: a kid flying through the sky isn't too common, even with a few children of Zeus, so I was bound to be seen and the people who saw be shouted, resulted in a small, but tough looking, group of blue feathered idiots running towards me as my feet hit the ground with a rocky landing and I began to sprint as fast as I could.

I hesitated to see if Theo and Liam were okay and that hesitation was almost too much. A blunt headed arrow landed straight in between my feet.

"Run!" Liam shouted, "Just go!"

Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones on my tail. Most of the blue team had abandoned the clearing in favor to run after the guy with their flag. A smart decision for them, a bad decision for me.

I stumbled over roots and was whacked by branches as I out ran just about everyone. Except for some of the Hermes kids, who were the fastest runners in the camp.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath and it was chorused by two of my best friends, although Liam's was more of a shout.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to a fight. I was sure I could fight anyone off, but it would be more difficult to hold onto the owl-embroidered cloth in my sweaty palm, and it might give a chance for more people from the blue team to catch up.

I pushed myself harder. I would like to say everyone faded into the background until it was just the forest, me, and the flag, but truth be told, it's kind of hard to do that when all you can hear is pounding feet and yells for me to be caught.

 _Almost there_ , I told myself, gritting my teeth.

The river was right there. I had almost reached it, but that's when I saw it. A flash of red in the trees on the other side of the river. And look who was holding it. Alex. I could imagine her grinning as she ran with the flag floating behind her like a cape.

I reached the edge of the river just before Alex, and leaped, thinking I could make it to the other side, but midair I was caught in a giant wave of water the consistency of jell-o. My head was the only thing protruding from Alex's latest trick and I couldn't remove my hands, much less my body, not to mention I was about ten feet in the air.

Alex however, dashed right through the water wall as if it didn't affect her, which it probably didn't. She wasn't even wet as she reached the other side of the banks and the blue side erupted in cheers while the red side began to groan. My team's red flag shimmered and turned gray in Alex's hands as she raised it above her head.

Alex turned back to the river, a broad smile stretching across her face. That sort of softened the blow of the loss.

Aquagirl began to slowly let me down, and as expected, flaunt her win, but I still managed a little smile as she went into great detail about her win. The sun was just beginning to set in the distance and Artemis was pulling the moon out above.

Later that week I was sitting next to Alex on the dock by the lake. We were both barefoot with small waves lapping over our toes. Naiads smiled and laughed at us from the bottom of the lake.

Alex was lifting small amounts of water out of the lake and creating tiny monsters and other mythical creatures. Right now a tiny liquid minotaur was battling a miniature warrior.

The sunlight made Alex's dark hair almost sparkle in the afternoon air. She smelled like lavender today instead of her usual lemon scent. She glanced at me with a soft smile. I held her gaze for a second longer than necessary.

"Hey Alex?" I started.

"Yeah?" She answered dropping a watery pegasus and turning back to me.

"Well…" I stuttered.

I got lost in those stormy sea green eyes.

I had no idea what to say.

I had every intention of asking her to movie night on Wednesday, a tradition started a few years ago. Looking at her now though, I realized I had no idea what to say.

"What is it?" Alex asked, "You can tell me anything."

"It's nothing," I muttered and looked back down at the lake and a small school of fish that was swimming by.

"Come on," Alex said, her smile not wavering an inch.

That's when a high pitched scream filled the air. The note hung for several seconds, followed by silence. Alex and I ran off to find the whoever had screamed, and many other people turned their heads towards the sound, but we were the first ones gone.

Alex and I raced off to the edge of the woods where the sound emitted from. My arms pumped by my sides and my breathing quickened. When we finally reached the trees, I held a gold blade in my hands, and Alex had a bronze one along with a shield. Theo had managed to catch up, and he had a piece of armor half on and was armed only with a dagger. Sammy was right behind him with the edge of his shirt slightly smoking.

Bianca stood there, frozen against the trunk of a large oak tree, the branches reaching out as if to hug her. A look of pure terror dominated her face and a sword hung limply in her arm. Bianca's dark hair was plastered to her face with sweat, her hazel colored eyes wide with fear. Bianca took only short quick breaths that would soon lead to hyperventilation.

And sitting there in the grass in front of her was the most terrible creature known to man or god…

 **See any conflicts of interest? Sammy vs. Elliot. Who will be the winner? Any suggestions?**

 **Follow, favorite, and review.**

" **Books have to be heavy because the whole world is inside them."**

 **-Cornelia Funke, Inkheart**


	4. Leporiphobia

**New chapter! Excitement is in the air, right? Read people read.** **Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO** **Alex POV** _And sitting there in the grass in front of her was the most terrible creature known to man or god…_ "A bunny rabbit? Really?" I asked, walking over to pick it up off the ground. I sheathed my sword and swung my shield onto my back before picking up the little fluffball. Bianca emitted another little terrified squeal. Bianca's breathing quickened even more. Her eyes rolled into her head and she collapsed, probably from hyperventilation. "You have _got_ to be kidding me," I sighed. "Theo, do you mind?" "Sure," he responded. Gingerly, Theo picked up Bianca and brought her to the Big House infirmary. Elliot was standing a little close for comfort and Sammy glared at him. I didn't know what that was about but I would have to deal with it later. "Come on guys," I said, jogging after Theo and Bianca. I heard whispering behind me but only managed to caught a few words, including my name. Finally we reached the big house where I hopped up the stairs and into the infirmary. Bianca was still passed out on one of the beds and Theo stood close by. Jayden also stood over her, checking up on her vitals. He was a son of Apollo. Sort of good with archery, but better with medicine. He's a year round camper, almost seventeen, and everyone knows him since he's the head of the infirmary. Only a few other people were in there. One with a burn from the climbing wall. Another with a sprained wrist. Saige was in the back sorting a new batch of medical herbs from the garden. Jayden placed his stethoscope around his neck, completing the check up as Sammy, Elliot, and I crowded around Bianca's bed. "She'll be fine," Jayden said. "Just fainted. She should be around in a few minutes." He left with his clipboard, leaving us to wait for Bianca to wake up. "Soooo…" Sammy said, trying to lighten the mood. "Nice rabbit." "Thanks," I said barely registering the little black fluff ball in my arms. I wondered how Bianca could take on the entire Ares cabin with nothing but a bottle of pepper spray, some fishing line, and a roll of duct tape, yet when faced with a little woodland creature she dropped harder than a stone. Not the sort of thing you see in today's heroes. I hugged the bunny close, rubbing my face in his soft fur. Don't ask me how- I just knew that it was a he. "I'm gonna name him ," I said. Sammy snickered. Even Theo smiled. "You're naming him …" Sammy started but stopped. I was full on glaring at him. Even a small growl escaped my throat. Sammy shrunk behind Bianca's bed. His eyes were wide and smoke began curling off the top of his head. Bianca's eyes started fluttering open. She glanced around, still half asleep. Her hair had sort of frizzed from the pillow. Finally she laid her eyes on the fuzzball sleeping in my arms. Bianca stifled a scream. "Get.. get that thing away from me," she stuttered.

********** **Bianca POV** " _Get.. get that thing away from me," I stuttered._ "Fine," Alex muttered, slightly disgruntled and she turned to walk out of the room. "So explain to me what just happened," Elliot said. "I… I'm deathly afraid of rabbits," I admitted. "Ya don't say," Sammy muttered, rolling his eyes. "They're little monsters," I said, shivering. "It's okay," Theo said, rubbing my shoulder. "Keep going." "It's a serious medical condition okay?" I told them, "It's called leporiphobia." "Lepo-what-now?" Sammy asked. "It's not contagious is it?" Sammy immediately backed away and covered half his face with his sleeves. "Of course not you idiot," I said. "Jayden, explain!" Sammy demanded, backing away even further. "It's the medical term for a fear of rabbits. It's not contagious. Nothing to be afraid of," Jayden said. "How can you joke at a time like this?" Sammy said, taking cautious steps back towards my bed. "My question," Elliot asked, "Is how you can be related to Fauna, a goddess of wild animals, and be afraid of a fuzzy little wild animal. It's not even mythological." "I don't know," I answered honestly, "but that's why I don't stay in the Maia cabin. They have this gigantic stuffed rabbit in the corner with this terrifying grin and these wide eyes that just stare at you." I began breathing faster and my heartrate elevated. "I'd prefer it if you kept my patient from hyperventilating," Jayden called from the other side of the room, not even bothering to look up from his notes. "Wait, wait, wait," Sammy said, "So your grandmothers are the goddesses of magic and wild animals." "Right," I answered, starting to calm just a bit thanks to the paper bag Theo handed me. "Shouldn't you be pulling rabbits out of top hats?" Sammy asked. "That's a magic stereotype. Not that many magicians actually pull rabbits from hats," I said defensively. "Sorry, sorry. I guess that's magic 101," Sammy said sarcastically. Alex had wandered back in sometime during our chat. "Where's the little mon- I mean creature," I asked. "I'm having Belle watch over him. Knowing her though, I'll probably get back covered in ribbons and sparkles. Ugh," Alex said. I tried to imagine the little puffball covered in lipstick and hair ties but my breathing started escalating again. "Into the bag," Theo said calmly. I did as he told me and my vision began to clear up again. Jayden wandered back over. His stethoscope was wrapped around his neck and his hands were in the pockets of his white lab coat. "You're clear to go," he said, "there's nothing wrong with you." "Thanks doc," I said. I lifted myself up from the bed and Alex helped me out the door. "Some fresh air should help too," she pointed out. I almost tripped walking down the stairs, but luckily Alex caught me. I heard murmuring behind me, but I couldn't make out most of the conversation. Something about Alex and Aphrodite? "Let's get you back to your cabin," Theo said, taking my other arm. ********** **Sammy POV** Elliot had been my best friend for more than ten years, yet here he was, encroaching on my love interest. Of course I had questioned how far it was actually going. I mean, there can't really be love at first sight when you're thirteen, right? And even then, I had known Alex for many years and only recently been interested. At least Elliot wasn't mad at me for liking Alex at the same time he did. Elliot blamed Aphrodite for screwing up our practically non existent love lives. I guess he could get away with it since he was related to her. "Mom always says that Aphrodite screws with relationships for entertainment. Sort of like the Aphrodite cabin," Elliot said. I nodded in agreement. I had heard similar stories from others. We were just sort of following the rest of our friend group. Bianca insisted that she was fine and didn't need to lie down or rest. Alex had gotten back from Belle with only minor adjustments. He was wearing a little bow tie and his fur was freshly brushed. Bianca was staying at a safe distance and clinging to Theo like he was a life raft in the Sea of Monsters. I didn't realize where we were heading until we reached the edge of the forest, close to where we had found originally. "I guess we have to release him back into the wild," Alex pointed out sadly. "Oh well. Too bad, so sad. Get on with it," Bianca rushed. Alex gave Captain fuzzy pants one more squeeze, then placed him down carefully on the soft grass and stepped back a few yards. hopped over to the edge of the forest where a pair of red eyes glared out from in between the branches. The griffin creeped out of the shadows, eying . It's muscles tensed, about to attack. I was too far away to help the little bunny. And to be honest I kinda wanted to see nature take its course, even if it made Alex upset. I hoped the pet store had rabbits because I had a feeling we were going to be looking for a Two soon. Then hopped not away from the monster stalking it, but rather towards it. The griffin straightened, clearly confused as to why it's prey was coming closer. took another hop and landed right on top of the monster. The next few seconds were just a blur of blood and fur. By the end of it was sitting in the grass with blood covering his maw and golden dust settling around him. "Attack rabbit," I said, frozen in place. "That's new." I took a small step behind Alex who was just as stunned. Then there was an audible thud. Bianca was down for the count again. **Odd chapter? I had fun writing it. Sorta took the bunny idea from** **Monty Python and the Holy Grail** **, but I thought it fit. Any ideas for the story? Or the pairings?** **Also, the name was for a friend in the hope that she would read this fan fiction. Same thing with the quote for this chapter. Of course in order to read the fanfiction she first has to read the series as I've been trying to convince her to do for almost a year now. She won't budge sadly enough. Sigh.** **Follow, favorite, and review.** " **Drink coffee, read books, be happy,"** **-Anonymous**


End file.
